Gaskets having a rigid reinforcing member, or carrier, and a flexible sealing member bonded to the carrier are known. Carriers are commonly formed by either stamping them from metal, or molding them from structural plastic. When a carrier is stamped of a single piece of metal, a large amount of scrap, also variously called offal, is generated and the entire center portion is typically scrapped or discarded. Molding carriers from structural plastic generates much less scrap material than stamping, but requires a very large mold to accommodate the size of the carrier, which again results in a large center portion.
In the prior art, carriers have been split into two parts or members along a single line to reduce the amount of stamping offal generated, or to reduce the size of die needed to blank the carriers. The two carrier members are butted up against each other in a gasket mold cavity for forming a flexible sealing element. An elastomer is injected into the cavity, forming the flexible sealing element of the gasket, which bonds to the carrier members. When a finished gasket is subsequently removed from the mold, the gasket tends to bend along the split line. The flexible member, while suited to hold the carrier members together, and to serve as the seal, is often unable to sustain bending forces from the weight of one carrier member when the gasket is held by the other carrier member. As a result, if the gasket is not handled carefully, it will bend or fold along the split line, potentially damaging the sealing element. Known gaskets employing split carriers are highly subject to such bending, even when merely being picked up for installation. The tendency to bend increases the risk of the gasket being damaged during handling.